Cupcakes, cupcakes everywhere

I've completed my assignment.

72 cupcakes for an office party. Well, I'm actually delivering 76 because that's how many fit into the boxes. I heard that the invitation went to 75 people, so I should be covering myself by delivering 76, and only 72 were ordered anyways. As you can see, I'm worrying.

I'm worrying because this assignment wasn't for fun - it was the first time I had been offered a commission to bake something. If it works out, somebody else could hire me to cater dessert (I hope in a smaller quantity).



The original order was 72 vanilla cupcakes with chocolate and vanilla buttercream frosting, all made from scratch. Last night, I decided to make about 2 dozen chocolate cupcakes for some variety as well. Let's make things more difficult and complicated! At least I didn't go forward with the red velvet cupcake plan. Maybe for the Christmas party though... Anyways, I used the Magnolia chocolate cupcake recipe. The batter very different from what I expected. It was really fluffy, almost mousse-like. The cakes turned out very soft, which is something I don't like in a cupcake because frosting becomes quite difficult. The vanilla ones were from an Ina Garten recipe and they were a bit more dense and easier to frost.

And then to make things more difficult for when I have to set up for the party, I had to have sprinkles, because if people are paying for cupcakes, they should get sprinkles, dammit!

Kitties meet Bingo

*Burp!* Excuse me.

I brought Morty and Eli back to my parents' house (the house where I grew up) this past Wednesday. Bingo was very excited to meet any feline cousin, and was super excited when he found out that there were two kitties to play with. The cats were so upset by the car ride that it was best they be left alone in my room. When my brother got home, Bingo went nuts sniffing his bag, thinking, "Did YOU bring home a kitty too??!!"


Morty would back away and hiss at Bingo, and also hisssed at my parents. I was so embarrassed. Bingo never barked or growled at the kitties; his tail never stopped wagging. One time when Morty hissed at Bingo, I hissed back at Morty to discipline him, and Bingo barked at me in defense of Morty, even though the little bugger didn't deserve any help from Bingo.



Eli never hissed at Bingo. Now, Eli is a real scaredy cat, even on his home turf. If someone comes to the apartment, he will run behind the couch and stay there for a goodly portion of their visit. So when he was plopped into a brand new place with this waggy dog running around, he ran for cover.... except there wasn't anywhere to run in my room. He took to hiding under the blankets (all three layers) and inside pillow cases. Look at his unhappy face in the above left picture when I was taking pictures of him in his hiding place. They say cats can't make facial expressions, but I do believe Eli is frowning at me and glaring.

Despite Eli's scaredy cat ways, he left the room (with me supervising closely) and walked up to Bingo and sniffed his butt. That is very courageous for Eli. True, he ran back into the room when Bingo turned around, realizing that his much beloved kitty cousin actually stepped toward him. At home, Eli will take the long way around Josh, rather than entertain the possibility that he'll be in grabbing distance of Josh. However, Eli would jump onto a bed right next to Bingo with no problem because I think he knew that Bingo would not hurt him. I love the picture of him and Bingo looking out the window together. They're so cute it hurts! When the kitties were packed up in their crates, Bingo freaked out at the sight of Eli in the soft-sided carrier. He kept pawing at the sides and tried biting the top. It was like he wanted to free Eli. When my dad opened the carrier a little to let Eli poke his head out, Bingo was quiet and sat down, glad that Eli was out. As soon as Eli was locked back up, Bingo would start trying to rescue him again. Please note that this entire time, Bingo did not try to help Morty, who was sulking in his carrier.

On our last night, Bingo kept scratching at my door, so I let him into the room. Otherwise, I wasn't going to get any sleep and we had to leave early in the morning for NY. Bingo was good and jumped on my bed to sleep. However, he'd look up once in a while when one of the cats walked around. Overall, he was very well behaved. Bingo was actually instrumental in preventing something really bad from happening. The previous night, Morty had escaped and run downstairs to the living room, and my dad thought that I hadn't closed my door, which I didn't think possible. So the night that Bingo was in the room, he woke me up with his whining. I heard a click, and it was Morty opening the door! Apparently, he'd figured out that if he stretched out against the door and put his paws on the lever (thank goodness my apartment door has a knob), he could get the door to open. I grabbed Morty and put a doorstop to keep him in the room. I didn't hear anything else all night, and in the morning, everyone seemed to get along better. I even managed to snap this picture of all three on the same bed.

Of course, Morty has to be ensconced in the bed my mom bought them. Notice the way he's positioned in the exact middle of the bed, so Eli has to squeeze into the sides if he wants a piece of the bed their grandma bought them. From the way the picture looks, you'd think all got along after that, but Morty hissed a little while later and I put him in his crate early for the trip home. Hopefully the next visit will go better, but at least I know that the kitties can travel to NJ, even if they don't really like it.

My first turkey

Morty ponders the Verrazano Bridge.

My cousin left on Tuesday morning, leaving me with the rest of the day
to make desserts for Thanksgiving. I produced two apple cakes (one for Josh's family) and chocolate mousse. Our plan was for a quick getaway from Brooklyn on Wednesday afternoon, so there would be no time for baking the next day. Unfortunately, I didn't get home as early as I expected on Wednesday because my grandmother was in the hospital with an infection. My bosses were quite kind and let me leave at 12:30 (I felt bad because I'd taken Monday and Tuesday off) so I could visit her. I left the hospital at 2:30 and wound up on the same subway car as Josh in Brooklyn (a very big coincidence). We left NY in good time, but Morty kept crying and going nuts in his carrier.

Before this Thanksgiving, I had never roasted a turkey before, and my parents were of no help as they'd never made one either. My brother and I turned to our mentor, Alton Brown, for guidance. For the first time in family history, the Thanksgiving turkey would go into a brine. I wound up getting up at 7 on Turkey Day to put the bird in the brine. However, I didn't think about how much two-plus gallons of brine with an 18 lb. turkey would weigh. I'm happy to say that I didn't break my back or drop the bucket. The turkey turned out fine in the end, despite setting off the smoke alarm during its initial browning phase at 500 degrees. Thankfully the 500 degree period was only for a half hour. Our turkey took two and a half hours to roast in total and we had white meat only, but it was the juiciest and most flavorful turkey I've had (white or dark meat). I am definitely brining my turkey from now on.

Aside from the turkey, my mom told me that I'd be in charge of Thanksgiving and do all the cooking while she'd wash my dishes. So the night before T-Day, I made a turkey lasagna per my parents' request. On the day of, I made gravy from scratch and roasted garlic mashed potatoes. It was a little daunting to be in charge of dinner, with my aunt asking me, "So should I make samosas now?" Luckily, I had a bunch of cousins for sous chefs. "Peel the potatoes! Mash the potatoes! Get me flour! Stir the gravy! Fondle these turkey gizzards!" Just kidding on the last one. Of everything I made, I think I liked the gravy the most, which had a base of onions sauteed in butter. It was so packed with flavor and utterly delicious. Mmm. Everything's better with gravy.

Running the kitchen turned out to be a nice challenge, and what self-respecting NYC foodie trapped in an inadequate kitchen would turn her back on a huge kitchen equipped with a six-burner Wolf range and matching exhaust hood (my stove doesn't have a hood and makes for interesting dances around the smoke alarm)?

Scarves

My knitting skillz (of course with a Z) still limit me to scarves. I don't think it's a big deal since I don't see the need to knit sweaters or socks. I'll buy those! Maybe I'll get into hats soon, as I hate the ugly hat I've been wearing for the past few winters.

The three scarves are the projects I've finished most recently. The dark green on the left is Josh's, the middle one is mine, and the last one was a present for a friend. It's the "Cashmere Boyfriend Scarf" from Joelle Hoverson's Last Minute Knitted Gifts. It's an easy pattern that I didn't have any problems remembering, and it goes very quickly. I think I might make a fourth scarf for my father, as his birthday is coming up.

A brush with fame

My cousin Jessica is visiting! Thanks to her visit, I've taken tomorrow and Tuesday off, therefore leaving me with just about half a day of work on Wednesday as our company usually lets us out early in the day.

This morning, we met some of our other relatives for dim sum before church. At first, I was amazed that everyone was there on time at 9:30. If you aren't Asian, you probably aren't familiar with the concept of "Asian time," where your elders tell you that you need to be somewhere at a certain time, and you make the effort to be there on time, but everyone else is at least half an hour late. The best example of this is a wedding banquet. The invitation says you have to be there at 6, but dinner doesn't actually get served until 8. It's wise to eat beforehand.

The second thing that amazed me? Well, the guy pictured to the left. Yup, none other than Mario Batali, owner of Babbo and one of the Iron Chefs. I was sitting there with my selection of dim sum and turned around to look at the next group being seated. I looked up and found myself staring right in Batali's face. I gasped and turned back to my plate quickly. I think my face turned red, because this was a very cool celebrity sighting for me. I actually think he's awesome! I sat there trying not to make a big deal, so I turned to Jessica to tell her about the utter coolness of the situation.

ME
Oh my God! It's Mario Batali!

JESSICA
Mary who?

ME
Mario Batali! From Iron Chef America!

JESSICA
What?

ME
Argh!

My other cousin knew who it was, but nobody else at the table knew about Mario Batali. However, right after we got out of the restaurant, I whipped out my cell phone and called Josh, who declined on attending 9:30 dim sum on Sunday, holy day for football fans.

ME
Oh my God! Mario Batali was at dim sum!

JOSH
Huh?

ME
He was at the next table! It was so cool!

JOSH
I don't want to talk about this. I'm mad.

ME
Why?

JOSH
Because I wasn't there.

I thought one of the best parts was when the waiter was asking Batali what he wanted and he said, "Weird stuff! We love the weird stuff!" He really seems as nice as he is when he's cooking on Iron Chef America. Yay! My first genuine celebrity sighting!

Poor Morty!

Last night, Morty was rolling around on his donut bed and I saw this pink patch on the inside of his foreleg. Upon closer inspection, it appeared that he had licked off his fur and the first layer of skin so badly that it was almost scabbing over. I freaked out and tried to figure out what was wrong. Is he developing OCD and going to lick himself bald with his need to be clean? Then I thought he could've developed feline hyperesthesia syndrome, where they groom to the point of mutilation. Apparently, symptoms include skin twitching, tail lashing, sudden bursts of activy, and darting around wildly. My cat does all those things!

When I got to work, I called the 5th Avenue Cat Clinic, but there were no appointments until Sunday. On my second try, I called Animal Kind Veterinary Hospital, where I got Morty an appointment for 4:30. So Josh did his fatherly duty and took Morty to the vet as soon as he got back from an exhausting day of teaching.

The vet says it isn't ringworm (I knew that) or fleas (where would he get those from??), and that Morty probably got a mosquito bite and the itchiness drove him bonkers. So now Morty's got to wear that elizabethan collar for 7-10 days and take some antibiotics.

Poor Morty has been slinking around the apartment pathetically all night. He keeps bumping into things and got stuck on the vacuum cleaner as well since he can't use his whiskers to support his peripheral vision.

I'll also have to take Morty and Eli back to NJ with me for Turkey Day instead of leaving them here for Amber to check on. I can't ask Amber to give my cat a pill and ointment every 12 hours! So it'll be really interesting. My mom's really excited to meet her grandkitties and has already purchased them a bed shaped like a couch. Hoo boy.

Where's Dora?

Dora is currently sucked into Animal Crossing on her DS.

Well, I'm actually a little obsessed with turning my town into a money-making orchard. I'm sure I'll be bored by the game within a month. Currently, cherries, apples, pears, and oranges are thriving in my town of Heck.

In other news, I finally went to the dentist after not seeing one for the past 2 1/2 years. I really like my new dentist! Hurray!

5 cavities. Bummer.

I spent $186 getting just TWO of them filled this weekend. I don't mind the drilling and stuff. It's just the price tag that throws me.

And I just found out today that my brother and I are going to roast the 18 lb monster turkey my parents bought for Thanksgiving. Yikes. My first turkey! Aside from the turkey, I'll also be responsible for the mashed potatoes and some dessert. Right now, I'm definitely going to bring my apple cake (it's not rich or too sweet), and debating on a pear clafouti or some cupcakes. I think I'll do the clafouti because it requires less work. I'll do a test drive this week and bring in the results to the office.

Sunday

I watched part of the marathon go by from my seat in the laundromat.

Last night, Josh celebrated his birthday with some of his fellow Fellows at Union Hall. Since Josh sent out the e-mail on Friday, not very many people could make it, so there were only 5 of us in total. We played some bocce, my first time, and none of us knew the rules. I was actually kinda bored by the game, so I was relieved when they stopped playing. While I was playing, I was wondering if the bar realized the risk they were bearing by providing this game for its patrons. A drunk guy could very easily try playing bocce and accidentally heave one of the surprisingly heavy balls into the crowd. We're not even talking about the angry drunk guy who tries to use a bocce ball to pummel a victim.

The one funny thing that came out of bocce? Josh was on the red team and I was on the blue team. My teammate pointed out that Josh was using the wrong bocce ball and I quipped, "Unless you want blue balls."

Today, Josh went to the Giants game with Dave and Jeff. I gave up my ticket so he could go with his best friends. While he was gone, I made a turkey lasagna. The recipe called for turkey sausage, but the store didn't have any. Gasp! I bought ground turkey meat and figured that I could fake the sausage flavor by adding in spices. I checked a few recipes and figured that there's a basic spice mix: fennel seed, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. There are usually a few more ingredients, but I didn't have much to work with. The best part was toasting the fennel seeds and then pulverizing them with a mallet. I never realized that fennel seeds smelled so good when toasted and crushed into powder. In the end, the turkey lasagna turned out just fine and probably healther than if I'd used turkey sausage.